Today I’m going to share an amazing vegan quinoa salad with you that I’ve adapted from Raising the Salad Bar.  As far as quinoa recipes go, this is is one I would rank up there in my top 20.

But first and update about what I’ve been up to.

I don’t know about you but I’ve had a really busy couple of weeks.

Take today for example.

I finished cooking and taking pictures  for the cookbook I’ve been working on.  This  involved making an amazing dessert with quinoa flour,  (Even my husband who acted like I was going to feed him prunes when I asked him to come taste it – in his defense he doesn’t like sweets and especially not healthier versions – loved it!  He was really scared when I told him that there was no white sugar and I’d substituted applesauce for part of the butter.) making four pizzas with a quinoa flour pizza dough (yum!) and finally this quinoa salad I’m sharing with you today.

Everything went really well.  If you don’t count the thin pizza I was making that I destroyed while moving it to the pizza stone.

Calzone, anyone?

I am thrilled to finally be done.

Not so thrilled with the way the kitchen looked when I was done.

I’m really excited because I learned so much in writing and cooking these quinoa recipes and I can’t wait to share!  All of the recipes in the book are new and not on the website.  There are tons of traditional quinoa recipes, but also some really special dishes – like a healthy (vegetarian!) version of my mom’s Chicken Cannelloni.  Who knew that quinoa would blend  so well and provide substance without messing up the texture or standing out?  My goal with the book was to come up with recipes that people who already love quinoa would enjoy but also to find ways to cook quinoa that people who were hesitant to try foods like quinoa would be open to.

My mom was my measure there.

She likes her flours white, butter where it’s “meant” to be and isn’t shy about the fact that she doesn’t want to eat another one of quinoa salad.

(She also has the cholesterol and high blood pressure medicine to go along with all that white flour and butter….Sigh……)

Anyhow, I think I’ve succeeded.

Now on to editing the content and photos!

Anyhow….enough about what I’ve been up to…on to today’s quinoa recipe.

It’s a great Vegan Quinoa Salad!

Which is rare for me because I always seem to find a reason to add cheese to just about everything.  I’ve read that it takes three to four years for the typical vegetarian to become a vegan.  I’m interested, but can’t really imagine life without cheese and Greek yogurt.

I just LOVE this time of year – finally tomatoes that don’t make me say words I shouldn’t in front of the kids when I cut into them and fresh corn.  If you have been around a while you might remember me mentioning that I purchased the book Raising the Salad Bar, which is a beautiful book but I just haven’t spent much time with it.  I blame it on the lousy winter produce.

Clearly I can no longer use that excuse.

Now I haven’t tried the quinoa recipes in the book just  yet,because this recipe really caught my eye.  It had all the makings for an exceptional vegan quinoa salad recipe.

Of course I changed a few things.  I added quinoa and used black beans instead of kidney beans.  The original dressing called for just lime juice but with adding the quinoa I felt a little red wine vinegar was in order.  Oh and garlic.

You know I add garlic to everything.  Did I ever tell you that I pack my garlic mincer and wine cork in my purse when we travel?  That band aids and a few legos and I’m good to go.

I probably shouldn’t have shared that.  Forget I mentioned it.

You really have to try this one.

Now if you can’t find everything fresh, of course use frozen.  Since frozen tomatoes wouldn’t work here I would suggest going with the smallest tomatoes you can find if tomatoes are still yucky where you are.  This will help eliminate the mush factor.

What’s your favorite vegan quinoa salad – I’d love to hear from you!

Tagged as: vegain quinoa salad, vegan quinoa recipes, Vegan Recipes